Feathered Goes Back to Cali for Starlet

While potential champion Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway) will certainly take some beating, the connections of Feathered (Indian Charlie) have shipped their charge back across the country to try and turn the tables on the favorite in today’s GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos Race Course. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Feathered was beaten a head in her Saratoga unveiling Aug. 31, and went on to romp by 9 3/4 lengths after setting a very easy pace when stretched to seven panels 28 days later. Third in the sloppy-track GI Frizette S. at Belmont Oct. 4, the Todd Pletcher pupil tracked Take Charge Brandi from the inside in Santa Anita’s Nov. 1 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, but was never able to collar that rival after making an ominous bid to midstretch before settling for fourth, beaten just a length. If the speed-favoring track aided Take Charge Brandi that day, it may have hindered Feathered’s chances to get to the winner, and the result could be different here over a fairer surface. Willis Horton’s “TDN Rising Star” Take Charge Brandi finished a solid second in the GIII Schuylerville S. at the Spa in July, but failed to make an impact in her subsequent three efforts before blowing up the tote at 61-1 going box to wire in the Juvenile Fillies. She came right back three weeks later to annex the GIII Delta Downs Princess at a much shorter 2-1, and reunites with Victor Espinoza, whose only previous ride on the $435,000 KEESEP yearling came at the Breeders’ Cup. Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, who won this race in 2009 and 2011 when it was contested at Hollywood Park, has two chances for another renewal. Mark DeDomenico and North American Thoroughbred Horse Company’s Majestic Presence (Majestic Warrior) was a wide-trip fourth in Santa Anita’s GI Chandelier S. Sept. 27, but failed to show up when ninth in the BC Juvenile Fillies. Hung very wide into the first turn after breaking from the outside post at Delta Downs, the chestnut completed the trifecta. Hollendorfer’s second representative Achiever’s Legacy (City Zip) was purchased privately from Alfonso Cammarota and trainer Joseph Catanese III after a successful debut sprinting on the Gulfstream lawn in June. Badly beaten in two subsequent tries on grass, the chestnut was a close third behind Maybellene (Lookin At Lucky) and Don’t Blame Me (Blame) in main-track Santa Anita optional claimer Oct. 23 before turning the tables on the former in Del Mar’s seven-furlong Desi Arnaz S. Nov. 16.